A court ruling in Oakland, California has added another legal mine in the murky landscape of right for Californians to homeschool their children. According to this ruling "parent do not have a constitutional right" to home-school their children. This ruling has touched off anger and bewilderment throughout America's home-schooling community. It even prompted a denunciation from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
This court ruling surprices even more when you look that the success homeschoolers achieve on average. They score an average of one grade level higher than publicly schooled students their age on national scholastic achievement tests. They watch 65% less TV than publicly schooled children, and are more involved in community and extracurricular activities. 98% of homeschoolers are involved in two or more organized outside activities (such as tennis, music, dance, computer clubs etc.) They are allowed to gain moral values from their home and not the children they sit with in the crowed cafeteria so are 50 times less likely to get pregnant before marriage, 35 times less likely to have an alcohol-related incident before the age of 21 and 46 times less likely to try illegal drugs.
The homeschoolers themselves testify the good of being educated at home. Justin, 15 stated Ive been homeschooled up until 9th grade, where I decided to try public school. I went and at first it was ok, not anything wonderful that for sure. I felt like in order for anyone to like me I had to act and dress the way everyone else was, I thought I had to be super skinny, so I stopped eating. Well now I am a sophomore and here I am back at home. At home you dont need to worry about looking right, and being popular. So take my word for it I would choose homeschooling over public and private school anydays.
True, homeschooler face a set of challenges that are more or less not existent in public schools. First, children need time away from home because they need to be able to fend for themselves. Mum and Dad wont always be there for them. Its cruel for parents to keep children in a home environment to learn, they need to experience the real world. And when the child gets old enough to learn advanced subjects such as pre-calculus, world history or physics and chemistry will the parents be able to teach those subjects? While all these challenges exist, they can be dealt with. For example, a certified teacher or tutor can provide for the more advanced subjects. If parents are not at home, then the child can be under the guidance of that hired personal tutor. To find a certified and safe tutor we recommend to check out www.tutorz.com one of the best tutor referral websites nowadays.
These facts clearly speak in favor of homeschooling. But can California parents still be on legal safe grounds when they decide their kids to be taught at home? The answer is yes:
There are three legal private alternatives for homeschooling children under California law:
By establishing a home-based private school
By enrolling in a private school independent study program - PSP
By hiring personal tutor.
One of the legally safest ways is to declare you home to be a school. You fill in a form, give it back to your city and they wont ask any more questions. Yes, you need to maintain certain school records but it is unlikely anyone will ask about them.
Parents may home-school children without teaching credential. This was decided in a California court reversal by the 2nd District Court of Appeal as a victory for students and parental rights.
So go on and do what is right for your child: homeschooling!